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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26095171">Meet Regulus Black</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scvalentine/pseuds/Scvalentine'>Scvalentine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Last Hope of the Noble House of Black [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter RPF, Regulus Black - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Aromantic, Asexual Character, Asexual Regulus Black, Harry Potter - Freeform, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Minor Sirius Black/Remus Lupin, Other, Regulus Black - Freeform, Regulus Black Ace, Slytherin Harry Potter, sirius black - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 04:49:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,426</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26095171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scvalentine/pseuds/Scvalentine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>In this chapter you'll meet Regulus and get a little picture into his life.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Last Hope of the Noble House of Black [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894639</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Meet Regulus Black</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Regulus lay on his bed, trying to tune out yet another screaming match between his mother and Sirius so that he could concentrate on his book. It was summer before his fifth year at Hogwarts and he had been spending hours each week browsing a used Muggle bookstore that he had discovered just across the park from Grimmauld Place. He had found that muggles loved to write stories about magic, although they seemed to get quite a bit completely wrong. He had read a few books under the vague classification of “classics,” but his latest acquisition was “A Wizard of Earthsea.” Reading this book so far had astounded him, the wizards seemed almost real, and more importantly, Regulus felt like Ged had been written about himself. He had already read the book once and was on his second go around on this thunderous August afternoon. </p><p>Somewhere in the depths of the house he heard Sirius shout and a door slam. There was a blast and the walls shook as his mother let out a rage filled screech. Regulus shifted his eyes to the door as he heard Kreacher patter past saying “coming mistress!” in response to her calls. Part of him thought it might be good to go downstairs and check what was going on, but he was tired of trying to get between his mother and Sirius. No matter how calmly Regulus tried to reckon with them, neither listened. Sirius always thought he was siding with their mother, Sirius was convinced everyone in the family was against him and that he has some moral superiority because he was a Gryffindor. Regulus had been sorted into Slytherin and was generally ambivalent to the houses, though he recognized its importance to his mother, and he did want to succeed in life, so he guessed at least the ambitious part fit. But even so, Regulus had always admired Sirius in a way, but he thought Sirius would get his point across better if he would act less high and mighty. Though the same could be said for his mother, who was, admittedly, showing the signs of not leaving the house for a decade. </p><p>Instead of getting up, though, Regulus sighed and slid further down his pillows, lifting the book above his head to read about Ged battling his nemesis.  His mind slid similarly further into this imaginary world, shutting out the anger he could feel emanating from the walls of the house. Regulus was, as always, conflicted about his departure in a week to return to Hogwarts. He could be left alone here, often he only had to interact with his mother during dinner, which was easily cut short. Mostly he slipped in and out of the house, visiting parks and bookstores, watching muggles and wondering about their strange lives. He would bring back a story to tell Kreacher as he sat in the kitchen to drink tea and eat the house-elves delicious biscuits. Recently Regulus had been sitting in a park while a bar nearby vibrated with enticing sounds called “Led Zeppelin,” which appeared to describe a group of unkempt men wailing, strange all around. Kreacher had cackled heartily at this story. </p><p>Hogwarts on the other hand, Regulus had to spend most of his time with other Slytherins talking about Voldemort and wizard supremacy. Regulus was interested in listening to them, although he found it pretty tedious after a while, they mostly repeated the same things over and over. He hadn’t really thought much about his own stance on the whole situation, he had the naïve idea that it didn’t affect him and so he didn’t think deeply about it. All he knew was that Sirius and his friends were pretty adamant about the whole thing being bad, which Regulus also hadn’t thought deeply about. What he did think deeply about was History of Magic.</p><p>This was the only reason Regulus loved returning to school each year, even though he had to give up his solitude. He had been reading through the library archives piecing together all the history he could find since his second year. Sometimes he would find Professor Binns coming out of the teacher’s lounge and ask him questions or pester him for recommendations on how to find out more information about Asser, the wizard who worked closely with the muggle king, Alfred, or more accounts by Ahmad Ibn Fahdlan when he wrote about the magical practices of northern river nomads. He had ended the last year finishing a book about the magicians in ancient Egypt, but he had so many questions to ask about how the wizards invented the muggle repelling spells that were so commonplace now. </p><p>An hour later, the light filtering through the faded green curtains began to disappear, causing Regulus to unconsciously shift to his side to get more light from the window. When it became too dark he finally looked up and blinked at his dark room just as Kreacher knocked on his door and entered to ignite the lamps with a snap of his finger. </p><p>“Mistress won’t be joining you for dinner, Master Regulus, but I have made you a plate in the kitchen.,” he began to bow out, but Regulus frowned. His mother never missed the opportunity to talk at Regulus about the news she had gathered from friends or from her newspaper printed out of upper Nockturn Alley.</p><p>“Where is she, Kreacher?”</p><p>“She’s in the family room, sir. Master Sirius has put her in a bad way, sir.”</p><p>Regulus sighed and pulled himself up. He pushed back his hair into a tie and tucked in his linen shirt to his muggle jeans that he had coveted from the hippies in the park. After inspecting himself in the mirror, finding nothing too offensive staring back at him, he followed Kreacher down the flights of stairs. </p><p>“I’ll be there in a moment, Kreacher, gonna check on Mother.” He found her in the family room, which was only called this because of the elaborate family tree that wound its branches along the walls and rippled in the non-existent breeze. She was slumped on the floor, surrounded by a ripped cushion and broken vase, leaning against the wall and sobbing which her weak fist softly pounded on the wall, as if she had been doing this for hours. Regulus frowned again, and his eyes followed her hand to a blackened and smoking spot on the tree, just next to his name. He rushed forward, realizing what it was, and tried to brush the smouldering ash away. </p><p>“What have you done, Mother? This was Sirius’s spot! You can’t just erase him because you fought! Imagine what he’ll think when he sees this?!” Regulus’s voice cracked as he thought of the pain his brother would face because of this symbolic orphaning. Sirius was a pain and very rude to their mother, but he didn’t deserve this. Hearing Regulus, his mother looked up through her tear-stained eyes. </p><p>“He’s gone. He’s not coming back. He’s an embarrassment to this family. He never appreciated the noble blood in our veins.” As she spoke the sadness left her eyes and in its place ignited a hatred that unnerved Regulus as he backed away from her. She stood up, shaking, her black hair knotted and tangled from her fingers tearing at it. She gripped her wand and looked at Regulus with those terrifying eyes, “He’s not my son anymore. It all rests on you, you are the future of this house. You are my only son.”</p><p>Her words chilled Regulus to the bone, and he shook his head, backing away from her. He looked back at the smoldering spot on the wall, realizing how close it was to blotting out his own name. He thought of the secrets he was hiding from her, the books up above, the disinterest in furthering the blood line, the admiration he held for Sirius and his self-assuredness. If she found out about anything, if she ever saw into his mind, that spot could be over his name. He could be erased from this family, from all he’d ever known. </p><p>As he backed away, his mother turned once more to the wall and struck her head against the boughs of the tree, causing the walls to shake. She continued to do this, ignoring Regulus and the fear and hurt that was shadowing his normally-clear grey eyes. He turned and ran up the stairs back to his room, back to his books and the wizards that muggles imagined. Hogwarts couldn’t come soon enough.</p>
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